Apotheosis
by G-AnakinRPG
Summary: A thrilling drama of Barthandelus strengthening his pawns - the l'Cie who will one day kill him - by eliminating the weak and strengthening the strong, by tearing them apart. Main Characters: Hope, Fang, Lightning ect.  Warnings: Slash and Love Triangle
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any material that belongs to its respective owner - however, I would love to and deserve to own FFXIII for being such a great fan of such a wonderful game.**

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**Apotheosis: **elevating someone to the level of a god.

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**Chapter 1**

Archtyle Steep: Foward

_Go as far as you can see; when you get there you'll be able to see farther._

- Thomas Carlyle

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Gran Pulse had always been considered by the residents of Cocoon to be hell on earth and after three weeks of wandering the wilds of this world, Lightning, Sazh, Snow and Hope all agreed with this assessment. True, the world was immensely beautiful and they wanted nothing more than to tell their loved ones all about it. However, they had spent their entire lives cradled in the relative safety of Cocoon; now they were outcasts to their own people-cursed by the fal'Cie for the purpose of destroying the only home they had ever known. The sole bright spot in their misery was meeting and befriending Fang and Vanille, the two native Pulse l'Cie that had made them question everything they had ever known.

Now, everything they believed about Pulse was being proven true, and not even Fang could argue that.

As an Adamtortoise lumbered nearby, they hid in a small pond beneath a cliff that lied in sight of the chasm of the Archylte Steepe. The sandy water and the salty aroma reminded Lightning of the long days she spent on the beaches of Bodhum when she was a child - when she was still carefree. Before her parents died. Before she was forced to take care of her sister almost as her own daughter. Before she became a Pulse l'Cie - and a fugitive.

They were to destroy Cocoon, their home . . . or face a fate worse than death itself. Now, they were looking for a way to escape that fate . . . and things just kept getting in their way.

They were hiding in this pond, which they had discovered while on the fruitless and hopeless journey of lifting the burdens of the former Cie'th (Snow's bright idea, of course). This pond was their refuge from the fearsome Adamtortoise. True, Oretoises were harmless unless one were to bother one or stray too near, but Fang was adamant that they hide just to be safe. Too many great Pulsian warriors - l'Cie even - had died against the great Adamtortoise, and Fang would not have them lose their lives out of being too prideful to hide.

Treading out of the knee-deep warm water, warmed by the sunshine that would surely scar her Cocoon nurtured skin if it weren't for the natural vitality that came as a gift of being a l'Cie, Lightning turned to Snow.

"You happy?" she asked to Snow scathingly, like a mother scolding her rowdy child for accidently breaking a vase. "Fulfilling the Focus of these Cie'th Stones, as noble as it may be, is foolish. It's hopeless and depressing . . . the beasts always return, and their suffering goes on."

She sighed. "We would be half way to Oerba by now and Vanille would not have fallen off that Chocobo who strayed too near a Adamtortoise," she said, indicating the injured girl whom was playing in the sandy water as Hope nursed her injured leg.

"I know, I know," Snow replied with a sigh, clenching his fist as if crushing fruit. "But, I just felt that we had to do something . . ." He paused, then focused on the issue at hand. "Fang? What way's to Oerba?"

Fang looked over to Snow with an almost amused express that said 'it's just no that simple'. "Well, Snow, there are many paths to Oerba. However, over five hundred years, most of those paths are either run down, blocked or infested with creatures. The only sure way is over there," Fang said, pointing to a cliff about two kilometers away.

Hope stood up, interested. "Isn't that the Mah'habara Caverns?" he asked with a nervous smile. "I thought you said we should stay away from there."

"We should," Fang responded. "But I already scouted out the better paths - the bridge across the chasm is destroyed and the river that leads to the Sulyya Springs is a breeding ground of goblins and Behemoths. So, the Caverns it is!" she said, with the slightest bit of 'deal with it' and 'it'll be fine' mixed in.

"Awww, Faaangg," Vanille whined from the shallows of the pond, toes and fingers savoring the smooth sand. "I hate the Mah'habara Caverns!"

"What's wrong with these Caverns," Sazh asked as he gathered the baby chocobo into his gloved palms from the water - the chocobo having enjoyed a quick swim and putting on quite a show for the l'Cie. Vanille reached her arms up like a child begging her mother to lift her from her crib, and Sazh pulled her up as the chocobo nested himself in his hair.

Vanille thanked him, then answered. "The Mah'habara Caverns are a wasteland of Pulsian technology - we lost control of it centuries before the War of Transgression. It was manageable at first, but after the wars between the States, we lost control. After the wars, all weapons were dumped into the mines - now only the chaos of war machines and natural predators exist."

"Oh, greeeattt!" Sazh exasperated. "Another death trap! How nice!"

"We should get going," Fang said. "If we leave now, we can get there before dark."

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Lightning walked ahead, alone. It wasn't uncommon. Even when she was young, before the death of her parents, she tended to be alone. The task of taking care of her sister, whom she loved dearly, just enhanced her tendency to be in solitude. Now, it was just natural.

She wasn't antisocial. It's not that she doesn't care for people. On the contrary, she cares deeply for each and every one of her friends and family. Serah. Hope. Sazh. Fang. Vanille. Even Snow. They all meant the world to her and it would end if she lost any of them.

Behind her, Sazh, Snow and Fang were discussing new battle strategies on how to best work together. Further behind, Vanille was flirting with Hope . . . rather badly it seemed by Hope nervous smile. _Cute._ Lightning thought._ It's nice for him to find someone to care for, and her for him, after all that has happened to him. It probably won't go anywhere, but it's a nice thing for him to experience._

She heard running footsteps behind her like a small puppy running over carpet. It could only be Hope. _That was fast . . . he did seem rather uncomfortable, but I didn't expect him to run away. I guess it's normal . . . I have run away from love more than once myself._

"Hey, Light! What's on your mind? I saw you walking by yourself, so I decided to join you," Hope said, falling in step behind her like Serah often used to do back when she walked her home from school.

"So, what happened?" Lightning asked.

"Uhm . . . what do you mean," Hope replied nervously.

"You and Vanille . . . it was cute. What happened?"

"It . . . that was nothing. I wanted to come talk to you," he said with a smile, his voice and walk changing imperceptibly to most, but not Lightning.

_This can't be good._ She thought. _It's not uncommon for a boy his age to be interested in someone older . . ._

Deciding to ignore it and talk about it some other time, she questioned, "What's on your mind?"

After a moment of hesitation, he asked hoping to change the subject while wringing his hands behind his back nervously, "After this is all over, what do you want to do?"

Lightning smiled to cover the bitter truth. Not for a moment did she believe things would ever go back to normal. But, for Hope, she would feign it.

"What do I want to do when this is all over?" she asked, repeating the question, stalling, letting him believe that she was thinking long and hard. _How can I give him hope? I've honestly never thought of it . . . what I would do if we survived this . . . all I've done since becoming a l'Cie is fighting and surviving. What was the happiest time of my life? What do I want to go back to?_

"I want to be back in Bodhum, living with Serah . . . and maybe even let her marry that idiot . . . Hope, do not tell him I said that," she said with a chuckle. Then seriously, "Really, don't tell him I said that."

Hope laughed, an adorable quiet expression of joy that made Lightning's heart melt with sympathy. "Don't worry, I won't!" he said finally, much to Lightning's relief.

"Good," Lightning said, wrapping her arm around his shoulder. "What do you want to do when this is all over?" she said, hoping that she wasn't venturing too far into the teen's privacy, but fair was fair.

"I . . . uhhhmmm . . ." _I want a 'happily ever after.' _He thought, twisting his hands around in front of him nervously. But he couldn't just tell her that all he wanted in life was to love someone and be loved back . . . it was just too embarrassing to admit that. To anyone. He just wasn't good with girls.

"I . . ." he tried to continue, but was interrupted as Lightning spoke.

"What the hell is that?" she asked herself, her curiosity peaked by a figure ahead. "A man? He's fighting a behemoth? Let's go," she said starting to run off to see what was going on and help if necessary. "Now, Hope! The others will catch up in a minute!"

They arrived as the first pink-tinged oranges invaded the sky and they had their first opportunity to view the mysterious man. The man had short length brown hair and wore tribal furs on his boot and around his waist, much like Vanille. He wore a brown cloth shirt and for pants he wore behemoth hide as brown leather trousers. As for a weapon, he donned a spear identical to Fang's; evidently, he too was a hunter.

Now, that very weapon was up above his head, both hands gripped upon it, bracing himself against the impact of the King Behemoth's buzzsaw that wanted nothing more than to rip him apart and scatter his guts to the soil.

_Not happening,_ Lightning thought. They were not going to let the first human life they had found on this hell of a planet die, especially not right in front of them!

Hope began by casting several blizzard and thunder spells, hoping to freeze or shock the joints of the giant beast's wrist which would force him to drop the large weapon from its grip.

Lightning dashed straight for the behemoth, slashing at the giant's knees before jumping to slash twice at its face. The beast roared more so in anger than in pain and pulled back his weapon, but not before Lightning caught its wrist with her blade. Upon landing, she back flipped, dodging a kick from the angered monster as she fired a round from her Enkindler while she twisted through the air.

Lightning glanced to the stranger upon landing, her sea-blue eyes saying 'follow my lead!' Then, a faint blue light emitted through her clothing, over her heart, and she felt a tingling through her right arm as magic flew from her palm. The beast growled and lumbered back as the weak lightning and water spells impacted him. Hope followed suit, firing elemental magic from his own l'Cie brand. The stranger, not having access to the vast array elemental magic of his new allies, released a magic of his own.

Much like the Pulsian girls that Hope and Lightning had come to know and care for over the last several weeks, his magic was thick and sticky; it appeared from his finger tips, exploding sludge upon impact and weakening or debilitating the foe in some form or another.

Due to the onslaught of magic, the gargantuan monster barely remained on his feet. In a last ditch effort for survival the beast jumped forward, landing mere meters away from the group of l'Cie, swinging his buzzsaw down upon the mysterious man. He sidestepped, dodging it, and then jumped before the impact on the ground would stagger him. He landed on the handle while throwing his spear like a javelin into the behemoth's neck. He ran up the handle as the beast squealed in pain grabbing his weapon as he jumped behind the creature.

Then, Lightning was there; she slashed at the creature's ankle and that was the last straw. While continuously under the bombardment of Hope's spell, it didn't stand a chance. It lost its balance and fell.

"New strategy!" Lightning hollered at the top of her lungs as she launched the creature several meters into the air via massive force from her blade impacting it from below. Then she followed it, slashing at it several times, slicing into its flesh and causing roars of pain from the monster, before she fell to the ground and began throwing several translucent spells at the monster. She jumped into the air once again, this time joined by the stranger and they attacked the beast in unison, the sharp points of their weapons flaying the creature's body. They fell to the ground, then backflipped away as the creature's remains sought to crush them.

The creature hit the ground dead, moments before the rest of the team arrived. And it was clear by Fang's reaction that she knew the man.

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_I decided to post this early - today is my birthday (1 AM) and I would love to get home from school today with a review or two. Please, tell me what you think of this story and if you're interested._

_Note: This will later become M rated._

_I thought of this idea in early January 2011 and began to write it - I would like to thank the wonderful Darkgirl5 and Lexicer for all their help._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** For the time being, I will not be continuing this story because I will be doing a big bang with a FFXIII fic – basically we **complete a story with a minimum of 25,000 **words between 3/1 and 7/1. Wish me luck :D My story will be in the 40,000 to 80,000 area and will feature Lightning and Hope 4 years post game (whether they will pair is undecided).

I have up through chapter 4 written, so I will post them if you want :D** I will be rewriting this in August.**

Leave a review and request them if you want them :D

Thanks to my wonderful beta reader Darkgirl5!

Thanks for reading :D

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**Ch 2 **

Archytle Steepe: Rear

_When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe._

- John Muir

Fang felt her chest shutter and her heart race wildly. She felt her breathing increase dramatically, and thoughts and memories flew through her mind. _It's him! He's alive!_

Then she was there, her arms wrapped around him, lips against his and nearly crying with joy. His arms too engulfed her and he was kissing her feverishly and warm and as passionate as lovers.

The rest of the group just stood back in shock. The thought of Fang passionately expressing her love for a man? It was natural to assume that she would one day find love, or may even she had already experienced love in her pre-l'Cie days on Gran Pulse, but the thought of Fang finding someone on the desolate wasteland of a world that is Pulse? It never crossed any of their minds.

Lightning was the first to recover. "Vanille, who is this man?" she asked, not suppressing her surprise in the least.

"He's Ryke. I never really knew him well myself . . . I knew Fang had a thing for him, but I didn't think that it had gone this far! Hehe!" she giggled. But quietly, on the inside, she grieved. Does she not trust me? We became l'Cie and failed our Focus together. All this time as l'Cie, even back in Oerba, why didn't she tell me that she has fallen in love?

The couple's embrace ended, and they had begun to approach the rest of the group. Upon reaching the other l'Cie the man smiled, a smile that radiate warmth and friendship that said 'let's get to know each other.' Then he spoke in a voice that made Hope's heart flutter, "Thanks for helping me."

"This is Ryke," Fang introduced, a grin like most of the group had never seen nor dreamed of seeing lit across her face. She introduced the rest of the team, starting with Ryke's saviors. "This is Lightning; call her Light and don't bother asking for her real name. The boy is Hope; yeah, despite the name, he's a guy," she finished in a whisper. Then she continued, "You know Vanille. The brute here is Snow, again with the names," she whispered. "And this is Sazh."

They all smiled in greeting, then Lightning asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "Nice to meet you," she began. "So, how are you alive? You were on Pulse 500 years ago, correct?"

Ryke's eyes widen in shock for a moment, surprised at the amount of time that had elapsed, then he smiled and began to tell his story. "I turned to crystal when I completed my Focus," he began as he was interrupted by a gasp from both Vanille and Fang.

"You became a l'Cie?" Fang asked strongly, heart breaking. _No! You can't be a l'Cie!_ Her heart cried, but she fought back the real tears that threatened to follow so well that not even Vanille, the girl with whom she has spent most of her life with, would have been able to notice.

"Yes," Ryke answered in a voice that said 'don't pity me, it's not that bad.' "My Focus was to kill this random monster in the Mah'habara Caverns. A couple of days ago, I woke up. Now I'm here! Well, that's it" he said happily, though an indiscernible look crossed his face.

After of moment of silence, Hope spoke up, eager to impress and make himself known to the man. "So, you know your way around the Caverns?" Hope asked excitedly.

"Yep! Of course!" Ryke answered, raising an arm triumphantly.

Fang interjected. "We need to leave if we're to get there before nightfall." And they set off, Fang and Ryke arm-in-arm.

Sazh, Snow and Vanille took the lead, the vanguard on their walk to the Mah'habara Caverns as the pink sky began to purple. Several meters behind, Fang and Ryke were catching up with one another with the occasional peck on the cheek secretly stolen. Further back, covering the rear, were Hope and Lightning.

Being in the back like this reminded Hope of the time he spent at Lake Bresha - well, the crystallized Lake Bresha that is. Back then, when his life had just been ruined with his mother's death and being handed an unfair fate, he was always in the back, out of the fighting, being protected and just watching the others. But this time, it was a good thing.

It started innocently; he was just looking for Ryke's l'Cie mark. He first noticed it during the battle while Ryke was casting his magic. Hope noticed that his back glowed with the magic of the l'Cie. Well, his lower back that is.

The brand was just above his rear, and from there Hope's eyes drifted lower. Since he had noticed Ryke's ass, he couldn't take his eyes off of it. Glancing at it now, he wanted nothing more than to touch it and see it bare, without his clothing that showed it off so well. Hope couldn't express how grateful he was that his waist furs only covered a small part of his body. He had never felt this way before - he was barely fighting back the urge to mess with himself. They only thing that was stopping him was that Lightning would surely bite his head off for doing something so distracting in such a dangerous place as Pulse.

He jumped as he felt a hand gently touch his shoulder. It was Lightning; he was caught. His mind was racing faster than it had since that day on the _Palamecia_ when the Primarch, Galenth Dysley, had revealed himself as a fal'Cie and as the orchestrator of his fate and that of his friends. The difference now was that he couldn't rely on others to speak for him; he was stuck with the talking.

"What are you staring at?" Lightning asked carefully.

"Nothing," Hope said nonchalantly, hoping that she would drop it as he shrugged her hand off his should and sped his stride.

Lightning reached forward and grabbed his arm, discreetly pulling him back; none of the others noticed. "Don't lie to me," Lightning said calmly. "You can tell me," she said, allowing as much motherly care as she could manage into her voice - she had been in a similar situation before when she had caught Serah in her first crush.

"Tell you about what," Hope laughed nervously while wringing his hands in front of himself and hoping that Lightning would just drop the subject.

"I saw you looking at him. His you know . . ." she said lamely. "You can tell me anything you have to say. No one else is near, not that you have anything to fear. You can tell me," she nearly begged. Nearly. She would never beg unless the lives of her friends and family were on the line; even then, it would be as a last resort. It's easier to force your way than to beg for it.

"I uh . . . uh . . . I like him. He's cute," Hope said finally, a large weight being lifted off of his shoulders. This was the first time that he had admitted it to himself, much less to another person. It was a relief. A relief that he didn't know he needed and a burden that he didn't know he had. He hadn't thought about it too much before, but he had always subconsciously aware. He liked guys.

"I guess I'm gay," he continued. He took another look at the man. Yeah. Definitely.

After a moment of silence, Lightning responded. "I thought so. I suspected it when I saw you turning down Vanille's flirting earlier," she lied slightly, kind of relieved. She didn't want Hope to be interested in herself; it would only break his heart. "Well, if you're gay, you're gay. You know the others won't care. Just don't expect anything from this new guy. He's too old for you, and obviously involved with Fang . . ." She paused, and then continued, "I don't trust him."

"Huh, why not?" Hope asked quickly, worried and indignant. He didn't want Lightning's suspicion to potentially ruin his opportunity at eye-candy.

"Think about it," Lightning suggested. "Some man happens to return from crystal stasis, something supposedly thought impossible until we met Vanille and Fang whom only returned due to machinations of the fal'Cie, just as we happen to be looking for a way to remove these brands. Don't forget about Cid, Hope. The fal'Cie have infinite control over l'Cie; that's why we're trying to remove these brands! To remove their control from us!" she said, grabbing his wrist, forcing him to look. After of a moment of fierce eye contact, she dropped his wrist and her voice calmed. "I'm not saying we should be overly suspicious, but we should be wary. Do not underestimate the fal'Cie. Barthandelus is dangerous and manipulative - never underestimate what he'll do to make us kill Orphan and destroy Cocoon along with it. He will do everything in his power to keep us under his control."

"Okay," Hope said. "You don't mind if I look at him?"

"No, feel free, I guess. I don't care. Just don't let yourself get distracted - on a world like this, it will get you killed."

"Can I be friends with him?" Hope asked, voice dripping with hope. "I can get close to him for you. I can be his friend."

"Fine . . . but be careful," Lightning said slowly. "Do not fall in love with him, Hope. He may be an enemy . . . even if he isn't, you stand little chance with him. He's a male, older than you, and he has Fang. Expect nothing, and you won't be disappointed."

Hope nodded as they were beginning to catch up to the others who had slowed their pace. They had reached the Mah'habara Caverns.

Arriving shortly before nightfall, the l'Cie traveled a short way into the dark caverns before making camp. In order to create a fire to camp around, they gathered wood around the cave, provisions that had been placed periodically throughout the cave centuries ago by Pulsian Natives for those who traveled through the caves. There were other provisions like food and water, but even imperishable food would rot over the centuries and the water was beyond stagnant and quite possibly infected with a multitude of germs that could have evolved on Pulse since the original citizens of Cocoon left; they would have no immunities against such germs should their l'Cie magic not fight the pathogens.

As usual, it would be a while before it was time for rest, so they followed their normal ritual of eating and getting to know each other better, this time, having a new guest.

Currently, Ryke was entertaining them all with information about himself (with Fang occasionally interjecting with a comment of her own). Meanwhile she and Sazh were preparing the meal and boiling the water for consumption for the seven of them while Lightning was inspecting her weapon; Lightning eye's never left the mysterious l'Cie. She sat there inspecting her weapon by heart, for she knew it well, while listening to Ryke's stories searching for the smallest inconsistency in them or in Fang's face, hoping he would make a mistake and Fang's grin would falter. Snow sat there interested, occasionally asking questions of Ryke such as how he took down that scale beast alone or that pack of wolves that ambushed him while running from a behemoth couple.

Meanwhile, sitting closer to the fire for best light in the dark caverns, Hope was tending to Vanille's chocobo-fall injured leg while he was straining to listen to what Ryke was saying about his life stories over the crackle of the fire and Vanille's giggling as his finger brushed against the leg he was inspecting.

Dragging his attention away from Ryke, he smiled kindly to Vanille and informed her of her condition. "It's mostly healed now. Just be careful for the next couple of days and don't do anything to injure it anytime soon. You can probably walk freely now. Now, let's go eat!" he said excitedly while standing, before helping her stand up along with him. "They're making penguin . . . or Levaks I think they're called on Pulse."

Vanille giggled as she followed him. Hope immediately took a seat near Ryke while Vanille went to help through the last preparation of the meal.

"Hey, kid," Ryke said, wrapping an arm around him. "Thanks for helping Light save me today . . . I bet the two of you have saved Fang's ass several times," he said jokingly.

Hope chuckled as Fang joined in the laughter and yelled a "Have not!"

Hope blushed, partially due to the attention but mostly due to the strong sexy arm wrapped around him. He placed his hands on his lap; it was a habit, so none would notice or think anything of it. He would need to keep this trick in mind to hide any hard evidence of future Ryke-induced aroused states.

"Food's ready!" Sazh called, as he, Fang and Vanille carried the cooked food and the boiled but now cooled water to their friends. "Eat up!" he continued. "We have two roasted Levaks here; they're fresh too. Fang just caught them when we were entering the caverns. Uhhmm, ignore the large holes . . . that's where she caught them."

"So, do you like Levak, kid?" Ryke asked as Fang took a seat next to him and his other arm engulfed her.

"Yeah," Hope laughed, covering the slight tinge of jealously that shot through him. "It's my favorite Pulsian food."

"It's the easiest to catch too!" Ryke said with a smile. "So, how are we gonna eat this?" he asked. "Does anybody have a knife?"

Lightning considered offering the beautiful knife that her sister had given her for her recent birthday – she held back tears at the thought of how she had treated her that day and that those were the next to last words she spoke to her - but decided against it. The only people who knew about the ceremonial blade were Hope, Snow and maybe Fang if she happened to notice it in Palumpolum; it was best to keep it that way with a new 'ally.' Instead, she offered her gun blade. "We could use this," she said, holding the blood-stained Enkindler up for all to see. "It's a bit dirty; we would be better of eating it with our hands."

Hope and Snow got the hint; they would likely assume that she didn't want to use such an important item for such a mundane purpose. _Just think that,_ she thought. It was her secret weapon.

They ate, talked some more, then fell asleep about an hour later. The whole night Lightning's eyes never left Ryke, until she slept, her watch over as Snow and Sazh took her place.

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Thanks for reading :D


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm sorry for any inconvenience I am causing, but it will be a while until I finish this. I am posting ch. 3 and 4, all that I have written. I WILL continue this one day; if you're interested, put it on alert :) I have other projects I wish to work on, one which MUST be finished before FFXIII-2 comes out. Thank you for reading :D**

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Ch. 3 - Mah'habara Caverns: Cave-In

After waking up, they set off deeper into the Mah'habara Caverns. The caverns were dim, significantly darker than anywhere else on Gran Pulse, a world of nature that relied primarily on the light of the sun especially now that the civilizations of Gran Pulse were seemingly wiped from existence. Fortunately, the caverns grew lighter as they dug their way deeper into the dark depths, but it also became more dangerous. Along with the increased numbers of lights that seemingly possessed infinite power from some unknown source came an increase in the dangerous residents of these caverns; they were constantly surrounded by Pulsework Warriors and other Pulsian bots and there was always the mad dash to sanctuary when a Juggernaught passed by.

Now, there was a new danger, recognized first by Lightning as she cried out, "What the hell is this!" as the path rumbled and rock dust powdered the l'Cie from the rocky walls and ceiling of the massive tunnel.

All but the Pulsians were braced for attack, weapons up and bodies tensed for whatever mysterious monster would try to ravage them next. Then Fang spoke with a chuckle, "Don't worry loves. That's just Atomos; he's a fal'Cie. Don't worry, he's no danger. Atomos just wanders through these caverns – if anything, he's a help. Sometimes he used to dig up ore for us when we were building our cities; I've heard Cocoon is made up of metal mined from this very place."

"So, he's no danger then?" Lightning asked carefully. At the lack of a response, she sheathed her blade back into its holster.

"Actually," Fang continued, "he's going to help us. If we ask him nicely, he'll give us all a ride to the Sulyya Springs, the next step on our road to Oerba."

"Oh, yay!" Vanille said happily. "The Sulyya Springs are so beautiful! I can't wait to show them to you all – Hope, I have a feeling you'll really like it!"

"Really?" Hope asked. "I'll look forward to it," he smiled.

Then Ryke spoke, a necessary thrill dampener. "We still need to find Atomos before worrying about the Sulyya Springs," he said while beginning to walk, which signaled to the others that they should keep moving after having stopped to discuss the false danger that Atomos presented. "This passage opens up soon so we'll probably see Atomos rolling along soon. The place where Atomos usually picks people up is about half a day's walk in – we can probably rest tonight in the springs."

"So we're gonna trust a fal'Cie? Great, just great!" Sazh moaned as a sigh left him like venom dripping from his lips.

"Don't worry, Sazh!" Vanille said, comforting him. "Atomos has never attacked anyone."

Vanille's words were interrupted by Fang as they rounded a corner. "Shit," she cried as she saw their path blocked by a small army of Pulsian machines of destruction, the worst of them a Phalanx.

"Are they trouble?" Lightning asked as she drew her blade.

"Yes," Ryke answered for Fang, also drawing his weapon from a strap on his back as the other l'Cie prepped for battle. "The Phalanx has the ability to alert and summon more of the small-fry, so we should destroy it first. However, that is no easy task. We're l'CIe though, so we can probably do it – I've haven't fought one since being branded."

"Good," Lightning said plainly; then she began giving orders. "Hope, Vanille, Sazh; attack the Phalanx from ten meters away with your magic – be careful not to hit us. Give us a signal if you plan to use a more potent magic. Support us with defensive magic if needed. The rest of us, we'll attack the Phalanx up close. We need to destroy it before it can summon more of its Hoplites."

Then she charged. She saw her friends fire their magic from behind her as she rushed in, throwing the occasional thunder spell as she approached. Fang too was casting magic, her arm sweeping in front of her as sickly sludge and lights appeared around her foes. Lightning, in her suspicion looked to Ryke, and was surprised to feel a glow within her as he cast synergetic magic upon her and the others rushing into the chaos.

Snow was the first to arrive, long legs creating long strides which allowed him to reach the Phalanx quickly; he began combat with a spinning kick delivered with incredible force – momentum gained from his dash to the enemy. Immediately after the thrust of his foot into the machine, he began to pound his fist against the robot's metallic hull, staggering the foe. Lightning was next, her blade nicking the precious metal of the machine, then she dodged an attack from a Hoplite with a spin; her blade was part of that spin and she cut through both of the Pulsework creatures. She jumped, feet impacting the Hoplite then used her momentum to spin over the Phalanx as she emptied a round of ammo using the semi-automatic function of her gunblade.

She landed on the top of the creature, her blade buried deep into its armor to damage its internal components as well as to keep her on top of it as Fang and Ryke simultaneously began to attack it with their spears. Ryke launched the machine into the air, with Lightning still perched on top. Lightning took one last stab into the guts of the robot before jumping off the beast as her l'Cie brand warned her of approaching magic – a thundara spell from Vanille that rained from the heavens.

Lightning used her falling acceleration to bisect one of the three Hoplites from its head and down. "Watch out!" Hope roared as a Thundaga spell seemingly appeared from the top of the cavern. The two remaining Hoplites disintegrated as the spell scorched the metal and rock below. Meanwhile, the Phalanx was falling apart as Fang and Ryke brutally shredded it in the air; Sazh finished it, firing a blitz of bullets from both of his guns.

The phalanx hit the ground with a large _clang_ and a small explosion. After a moment of everyone sheathing their weapons and checking one another for injuries, Ryke spoke. "This is it," he said while indicating the new chamber they had entered. "See that path over there," he followed, indicating an opening in a wall that was disconnected from the main path they were following. "That's a tunnel that Atomos dug. We'll see more as we go through the caverns. We should speed up a bit; that battle slowed us down and unless we want to spend more than one day in here, we should pick up the pace. Deep in the caverns is not a nice place to be at night; the most dangerous of the predators in the caverns circadian clocks have them hunting at night – let's go!"

After marching down another tunnel, where the worst dangers they faced were a Pulsework Warrior and some Cyrohedrons, they entered another larger cavern; the novel thing about this cavern was that there was a center platform, and all the way around it was a path that Atomos had worn down into the rocks over the millennia it had been searching or mining for whatever it had been searching for.

Upon crossing a bridge onto the center platform, Hope noticed a sleeping Cie'th stone on the ground near a stairway. "What's wrong with it?" he asked while bring everyone's attention to it; they had never seen a Cie'th stone in this type of condition.

"There's nothing wrong with it," Fang replied. "Cie'th Stones only awake when they sense a l'Cie nearby powerful enough to complete its failed Focus. Obviously, we're not powerful enough. Yet."

"Oh," Hope sighed. _Depressing. All the power we've gained, and we aren't even offered the opportunity to complete even the most basic of Focuses. How are we ever going to overcome the fal'Cie?_

Ryke pointed to the set of stairs, then spoke. "The path we want to take in order to reach the pickup platform is up through here." They followed with the only sound in the room idle chat between some of the l'Cie; then, they heard rumbling as they crossed the second catwalk that would lead them out of the cavern and into the next tunnel.

"That's Atomos!" Vanille said in awe at the sight of the magnificent and semi-benevolent fal'Cie.

The fal'Cie stopped for a moment, and then Hope chuckled, "Whoa! Is it going to let us get on here!" He was excited at the thought of not having to go through the rest of these caverns.

"No," Ryke said. "Run!" he roared, as he grabbed Fang's hand and began to run to the end of the of the catwalk as Atomos began to cut his way into rock, fresh rock that had not yet been opened into a path for Atomos to search through eternally. As he began to break through the stone, the entire cavern began to tremble. Boulders fell and began to impact the catwalk as the l'Cie scrambled across; the boulders were large enough to instantly kill them and likely collapse the bridge from under the seven humans in peril.

Fang ripped her wrist from Ryke's grip as she ran back to help her friends.

"Hope! Watch out!" Lightning screamed as a large rock began to fall upon him. He swiftly dodged it and then he saw that his path was open and quickly reached the end of the catwalk.

There was a great orange light as wind roared through the air; Fang had summoned Bahamut to assist them. He flew through the air shattering boulders so that nothing more than rock dust and pebbles rained down on the party. Fang jumped upon the back of Bahamut and gave orders: "Get to Vanille!" she roared.

Meanwhile, Ryke had returned to the middle of the bridge to help Fang, but then turned back as he saw Bahamut in action; she was safe, he knew. Sazh and Lightning had returned to the center platform, dragging Snow with them, and began to fire magic spells at the boulder hoping to assist Bahamut in destroying them before they could kill the Pulsians on the bridge. After a moment, they retreated further onto the platform to find cover under the stairway, having decided that it was better to stay alive and try to find a way to proceed and to help their friends rather than die now.

Bahamut then dropped Fang and Vanille off on the other side before disappearing into thin air. "Where's Ryke?" Fang hollered to Hope.

"There!" Hope called, seeing Ryke approaching them. Then his eyes widened. "Watch out!" he cried as he saw a boulder come crashing down towards Ryke's head. Not being able to contain himself, he ran out onto the catwalk to help him.

"What are you doing kid!" Ryke yelled before the breath left his lungs as Hope's smaller body crashed into him with all of the boy's force. Ryke hit the catwalk with an _uhhmmphhh_ before a spine breaking shudder broke vibrated through it; then, the platform fell.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Mah'habara Caverns: Trust

Hope awoke with a shudder, though he was pleased to awake with the sight of Ryke trying to wake him. Waking up like this reminded him of his first moments as a l'Cie, even before he was aware he was one; he remembered waking up, body aching and having no idea where he was – now he knew that the day that he had woken up in Lake Bresha had changed his life forever. This time, being woken up in an unknown place was infinitely more pleasant; this time, he knew he had someone to take care of him and he knew that he had people whom would come looking for him. It made him feel special and loved - a feeling he was absent of the day he had been handed the fate of a l'Cie.

"You all right, Kid?" Ryke asked as he shook the boy awake while slipping an arm under him. Hope groaned as the man lifted him up placing him on his feet.

Hope let out a gasp of pain as his feet impacted the ground; he obviously had some sort of injury and his full body weight on his legs was too much for it. He fell into Ryke's arms. Hope sighed as he felt the warm arms wrap around him as the older man caught him. I can't wait until this is for real, he thought. Naked and sexy, bare arms and taunt muscles wrapped around him, and warm, loving kisses . . .

His reverie was shattered as Ryke spoke. "What wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"My leg. It's hurt," Hope replied. "Not too badly though. Will you hold me while I look at it?" he asked while propping himself up against the man's chest as he began to rub his fingers gently down his own legs. He hissed as his fingers brushed against a spot on his left leg. "I think it was hit," he said. "Most likely a bruise." Then he winced. "A nasty one."

He rolled up the pants leg and winced while letting out a growl as the rolled up pants leg constricted around the swelling. "Yeah, it's not too bad." He said, as he began to gently probe the bruise with his fingers as beautiful blue magic poured from them – he let out of moan as Ryke's finger brushed across his shoulder blades and he felt his magic power increase; the older man had cast the synergistic Faith spell on him. "Thanks," Hope muttered to the main.

Hope sighed as the dull ache in his leg withered away and he then blushed in embarrassment as a moaned erupted from his lip; Ryke's fingers were on his leg, gently probing the injury.

"Sorry," Hope whispered. "It's sensitive," he lied, referring to his leg as he sat with his hands immediately in his lap.

"Any other injuries?" Ryke asked, glancing down at the boy.

"No," Hope said. "Other than the dull ache throughout my entire body."

"Ahh, me too; guess that happens when you fall twenty meters. [Twenty METERS? That's more than 65 feet. They'd hit the ground at about 31 mph unchecked. And I KNOW it's a story and Final Fantasy at that, but I just wanted to give you an idea of the math here. I always work out the math when writing...because I'm crazy. you don't have to change it, but maybe have them fall in stages. Or ignore me.] By the way, thanks for that. That's twice you've saved me," Ryke said.

Oh gods! Hope thought. The compliment was just about to send him over the edge – anymore, and it wouldn't go away until he decided to handle it. Then, he panicked as he noticed that Ryke was offering a hand to help him up. Thinking quickly, he said, "Do you mind if I rest for a minute?"

"That's fine," Ryke said, withdrawing his offered hand. "But we need to leave soon if we want to make it to Sulyya Springs by nightfall – that's the only way we'll ever catch up to the others."

After a moments wait, Hope spoke. "So, what are we going to do now?" Hope asked worriedly. The exit to the cavern, where their friends hopefully escaped, was blocked; much less the fact that it was twenty meters above them and they had no way of climbing that high a climb.

"We'll take one of Atomos's tunnels," Ryke suggested, while indicating a large hole in the wall along the ground, a clear indented track made by Atomos etched into the rock . "He just started digging a new path, so it should be safe for us to travel down one."

"Are you sure?" Hope asked; he did not want to die. Especially by a fal'Cie.

"No," Ryke replied. "If I'm wrong, we're most likely dead." After a pause, "When you're ready, we'll go."

Explain why they are so upset and about how the other's aren't with them.

I think that Fang and Vanille's scene is good, but I think you sort of forgot to explain why they were so upset. I mean, we know that the catwalk collapsed, but I had no idea what happened to the other three. (i was picturing them standing there watching all this crap between Vanille and Fang like it was a scene in a play). They got very distracted from the cause of their distress very quickly. While I see characters getting off topic (it happens all the time in real life-you start fighting about being lost in a car and end up arguing about getting stuck watching Football games every sunday instead of going to your mother's for dinner) I think it might be good for them to express a bit of worry for the other characters before Vanille starts talking about crap that happened 500 years before.

"Dammit," Fang yelled as Vanille cried out in anguish. The entrance to the tunnel was blocked by the cave-in. If it weren't, she would have been able to summon her Eidolon and fly across the chasm in order to get her friends who had stayed on the central platform and then fly down into the chasm to rescue both Ryke and Hope. Now, they had to continue and hope that the others survived and that they would find their way to the Sulyya Springs. They were separated . . . and if they didn't come together again to fight their focus, her only hope of saving Vanille from becoming a Cie'th was by repeating the past. A past that she did not even remember.

But she had a feeling that Vanille knew. That Vanille knew everything.

Fang began to follow the path as she spoke, Vanille immediately following. "We need to hurry to the Sulyya Springs," she said. "When we get there, I want you to stay in case the others arrive. I will go back into the caverns to look for them – do not allow any of them to return to the caverns; got it?. I'll be back by nightfall – anyone not there by morning is dead," she finished with a sigh; dammit! She thought. We're not even to Cocoon and the fal'Cie are picking us off like flies.

Meanwhile, Vanille was thinking. All that Fang had said, Vanille knew, was an order; it made sense, she knew, but she was annoyed that Fang was bossing her around. Why didn't Fang ask her opinion, Vanille often wondered. The answer had come to her last night when she saw Fang passionately expressing her love for a man that Vanille knew next to nothing about. Trust - Fang did not trust her. But why? They had grown up together, fought together, failed their Focus, awoke from crystal stasis and had met new friends together; they had learned the truth of their Focus and traveled the magnificent world of Gran Pulse in order to defy that fate. Together. Why didn't Fang trust her?

She couldn't hold the question back anymore, so she broached the subject at last. "Fang?" she asked, eyes burning with unshed tears. "Why don't you trust me?"

Fang's heart jumped at the question; had Vanille read her thoughts? One silly thought that she had already forgotten about; had Vanille caught her in the one moment that she had doubted the younger girl? "What do you mean, Vanille? I trust you - you're my life!"

Vanille felt the first warm droplet of salty tears drip down her face. "You don't Fang, you don't!" she cried, knowing in her hear that it was the truth.

"What do you mean?" Fang asked, anguish grippng at her heart. Vanille was her life - how could she doubt her?

"You never ask me what I think," Vanille cried. "Sometimes it feels like you don't trust me - like I'm just a burden for you! You always order me around,; you always protect me. You do everything for me. You don't trust me enough to let me do anything for you!"

Fang's anger had begun to boil at her childishness; all this crying for nothing? What was up with her? "Then just speak up then!" she said as if it were the most obvious thing in all of Gran Pulse. "If you want to do things for me, just tell me - I won't mind!"

"How can I?" Vanille cried in response. "You never talk to me about anything personal - you didn't even tell me about Ryke! How can you love someone and not tell your best friend? How can you not tell me? All those endless night we stayed up together after being given our Focus. All those fearfilled nights where we were cuddled in each other's arms . . . why didn't you tell me!" she cried out, tears now streaming freely.

"That's what you're upset about? Do you wanna know why I didn't tell you?" she hissed. "It was too painful . . . at the time, I never expected to see him again! You have nerve Vanille," she roared through clenched teeth has she struggled to keep her fist at her side - Not Vanille, she thought - "How dare you be upset at me - it was painful! We had just been branded - nothing was easy those days! There was no point in bringing up more hardship!"

"You still should've told me!" Vanille said strongly, not deterred in the least as they emerged from the rocky tunnel into a small secluded valled that sprouted grass and tiny flowers that ticked as they crossed Vanille's thighs. "I could have helped you bear it - it would have helped you to talk about it. You can trust me!"

"Trust you?" Fang laughed. "Why should I? Hmm?" she asked, her gray eyes glaring daggers into Vanille's small frame. "So . . . when were you going to tell me that it was all my fault? That it's my fault that Pulse is this way; that I became Ragnarok and nearly destroyed Cocoon?"

"Wha- What do you mean?" Vanille asked hands rising to her mouth as her voice began to crack in fear; the truth was about to be set free, out into the open, to ravage their bond of friendship.

"It's my fault Pulse turned out this way, isn't it!" Fang demanded.

Vanille moaned in despair.

"I remember everything," Fang said, facing away from the coral-haired girl. "I became Ragnarok. I scarred Cocoon. And I left Gran Pulse in this mess. It was me," Fang sighed, with the slightest trace of confidence dripping from her lips.

Vanille approached as if to comfort her, then stopped. "What are you talking about?" she asked slowly, pulling back the hand that she had begun to offer out in comfort.

"It all came back to me," Fang said as she turned to face they younger woman. "Everything that happened with our Focus," she lied, then spoke confidently as if she were a goddess that knew all that had ever happened, is happening and will happen later. "All of it."

"You're lying," Vanille said in a hissing cry, her distress as evident as the sun that beamed down upon the two Pulsian women from the great sky.

Just then, Vanille gasped in shock as she felt her magic burst within her as she began to glow. Her hands snapped to her thigh as a dull burn engulfed her there. "No, it's the truth!" Fang stated as Vanille's fingers began to travel along her brand and her eyes drifted to the place where her magic was erupting from within her. "It's all my fault," Fang continued, her gaze going to the ground in shame as she realized the truth - unknowingly, she had been telling the truth.

"Don't say that!" Vanille cried from behind her, approaching while gripping her throbbing l'Cie brand. Suddenly, she cried out in slight pain as her mark erupted anew with magical energy and the brand seemingly separated itself from her body. Her fingers were launched from it forcefully as the orange glow turned green and exploded, her own magical energies not under her control. The green light was now a glyph upon the ground as Fang called out to her in worry. The glyph was spinning wildly beneath Vanille as the other woman approached; the glyphs light exploded into the into the air around Vanille, capturing her slight frame within it. Suddenly, arms erupted from the ground, dozens of them. Vanille could only stare in shock as the sharp talons came from beneath the surface to shred and swallow her into the dark abyss she could feel beneath her.

Vanille cried out in fear as she backed out of the glyph, running to Fang for safety. The arms retreated into the ground as the main body emerged into the light. It was tall and the Pulsian women noticed it had hundreds of arms as it unfoled them from its chest. "Hecatoncheir," Fang said in awe, recalling legends and memories from the War of Transgression. "The hundred-arm Eidolon - the ancient destroyer of the Sanctum l'Cie." Then she turned to Vanille.

"The Eidolon knows the truth," Fang hissed, her spear drawn and ready for battle - to protect her friend even though she was pissed. Then, she got a gleam in her eyes as she glanced at Vanille while readying herself for the coming battle. "Ha! I knew I was right!" she said triuphantly.

"Wait! So you were lying?" Vanille asked in surprise as the breath left her lungs.

"No more than you were," Fang replied, malice effectively lost now that the heat of battle was upon her. "Admit it," she demanded. "You remember everything!"

"It wasn't!" Vanille cried. "It wasn't your fault!"

"Vanille," Fang said as she braced her weapon in front of her, ready for the beast's onslaught; she would protect Vanille, but it was the younger girl's fight. "We can talk about this later!"

I will fight this time! Vanille thought as she began casting her magics . . . For Fang!

"Fuck this!" Lightning yelled in rage as she swept her dirty blond locks from her face while pulling herself out from under Snow Villiers ridiculouly large frame - which had fallen upon her as the man jumped atop her in order to protect her smaller, but not in the least frailer, body from the collapsing stairway that had given up under the constant bombardment of falling boulders. Climbing over the hulking man and the broken metal that surrounded him, she jumped, landing on the central platform. She checked herself quickly for injuries before turning back to the two men with a quick glance - she saw that they were climbing out of the wreckage and seemed to be fine - before she began to climb up the remains of the shattered staircase and up to the collapsed catwalk.

She bounded for the edge, where the catwalk bridge had once been, and looked down into the dark abyss below. Angry tears escaped her eyes as she stood in thought, heart crying. Dammit, Hope! You may have very well gotten yourself killed - what did I tell you about doing foolish things for a crush? Dammit!

Her hand nearly flew to her blade to kill as she felt a hand gently placed on her shoulder - it was Sazh. "Light," he said. "Don't worry; I'm sure they're fine."

It was kind of Sazh to want to comfort her and maybe what he said was true, but she would have none of it. She wanted nothing more than to attack, cutting his afro off his stupid head for annoying her. But she couldn't do that. He was a friend; a good friend. She could use all the friends she could get now. So, instead, she shrugged his grip off her shoulder as gently as she could manage. By then, Snow had approached and she decided break the silence that had engulfed the shrunken group in its grip. "Any ideas?" she asked, her voice saying 'think fast!'

"No," Sazh responded with a sigh. "There's nothing that we can do. We're stuck here - all that we can do is hope that Fang and Vanille survived and that they know what to do to rescue us. As for Hope and Ryke . . . they're strong. They'll be fine," he continued supportively, knowing that Lightning needed it.

Lightning nodded, accepting the facts for facts - there was nothing she could do. She prided herself as a pragmatist and was not ruled by emotion. She would wait - and be ready when it was time to save her friends should they need it. In the meantime, they would train; there was not a moment to waste if they were going to beat their Focus.

And behind them, they heard a buzzing as the Cie'th Stone awoke.

Chapter 5

Mah'habara Caverns: Struggle

Hope was almost afraid as they marched down the ancient path through the heart of the Mah'habara Caverns that Atomos had created over the centuries. It was dark, but the l'Cie powers included quickly adaptable eye sight - even in pitch black. It reminded him of those times several weeks ago when he was traveling through the barrens of the Vile Peak's trash heaps and the wilds of the Gapra Whitewoods with Lightning. Those times, he was almost afraid, but he knew he was safe because Lightning was there to take care of him. Now, he had Ryke; in its own way, it was more exciting. He didn't blindly trust him - Lightning had said not to. That created doubt for him; that doubt enhanced the pleasure he felt each time Ryke did the smallest thing to keep him safe, even if it was as silly as stopping him from stumbling over a small rock in the dark. This was also his chance to get to know Ryke better. This made Hope tingle with excitement - Ryke was hot.

It was mostly silent for the first hour, except for the occasional battle against a party of Rust Puddings (as Ryke called them) and the occasional chatter between the two about their mutual friends - it made Hope sad that they had so little to talk about. There was no way that they would ever become good friends if they didn't find more common ground.

After a monotonous hour or so, Ryke spoke. "Let's use this passage," he said, indicating a jagged hole in the ancient rocky wall about two meters above.

"Are you sure?" Hope asked carefully as a blush began to spread across his face at questioning his crush. "You said that this path will lead us to the Sulyya Springs - who knows were that one will lead us."

"Yes," Ryke replied slowly. "But, this path is also dangerous; just because it is unlikely, there's nothing stopping Atomos from rolling by and crushing the both of us." He winced at the thought of being crushed. "The above path will lead us to the Springs, one way or another - all paths do. Otherwise, they wouldn't be there - they all have some purpose or another." He glanced Hope up and down before speaking again. Hope blushed madly as sexy blue eyes traveled across his body.

"Can you jump that high?" Ryke asked - he left it unsaid how short the boy was. "Can you pull your weight up? You're primarily a magic user - how are you upper body muscles?"

Hope cringed - his upper body muscles were nonexistent. However, he believed he could pull himself up. He did it in the Vile Peaks, weeks ago; it was twice as likely he could succeed now. He had a brief thought that his lack of muscle may be a turn-off, but tossed the thought aside for another time as he approached the wall. He probed the wall through his gloves, gently, to get used to the texture; it was hard and offered no friction for his grip. He would need to grab the crevice at the top - there would be no climbing. He took a deep breath and prepared himself; then, with all his might, he launched himself away from the ground with his strong leg muscles - gained from all the running these last several weeks - and then he was in the air. His finger tips brushed against the wall, just centimeters away from the ledge that would allow him to pull himself up into the passage - a quick and easy way to impress Ryke.

He cried out in pain as he hit the ground, his feet nearly falling out from under him. Shit, his not so innocent mind cried at his injury.

* * *

**Above is only a portion of chapter 5. Again, I am sorry for any inconvenience. If you would like to read more, place this story on alert. I WILL FINISH THIS LATER! :D**


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